More dead in India explosion

Police fear more could die

Rescuers have recovered 43 bodies from the debris of three buildings in the city of Surat in western India.

The buildings collapsed on Sunday after an explosion in one of the buildings.

The exact cause of the explosion has not yet been determined.

Surat's police chief said rescue work had now ended and the authorities were clearing the debris away.

More than 30 people have been pulled out of the debris alive.

Accident

The explosion happened at 0330 (2230 GMT Saturday), when most of the occupants of the neighbouring three-storey buildings were asleep.

Rescue teams used sniffer dogs to find people trapped under tons of rubble, and cranes were brought in to shift concrete slabs.

Police said the blast appeared to have been an accident.

The blast caused two adjoining buildings to collapse

"It seems that it was not the handiwork of any terrorist organisation," Surat Police Commissioner VK Gupta said.

Some reports said the blast might have been caused by an exploding gas cylinder.

"The ground floors of all the buildings are used for diamond cutting and polishing work and they use gas cylinders extensively," the Associated Press quoted a local resident, Manoj Sorathiya, as saying.

Surat is a major diamond centre, accounting for about 90% of India's diamond exports.